Watch: PM Modi interacts with students onboard Kerala's first Vande Bharat train
The inauguration ceremony was attended by railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with students onboard after inaugurating Kerala's first Vande Bharat Express train at Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station on Tuesday.
A video shared by news agency ANI showed PM Modi interacting with school children on the Thiruvananthapuram Central-Kasaragod Vande Bharat Express train; one student sang a song while other recited a poem on cleanliness. The students were also seen sharing posters of the train with the prime minister.
The inauguration ceremony was held in state capital with railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in attendance.
Vande Bharat, the semi-high-speed train from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod, would cover the 586 km long journey in eight hours and five minutes and would halt at 14 railway stations. On its way, the train will cover districts including Kollam, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram, Kozhikode, and Kannur.
Read here: PM Modi flags off Vande Bharat train, inaugurates water metro project in Kerala
Congratulating the people on the various development projects, PM Modi said, "Today Kerala got its first Vande Bharat train, and today Kochi got the gift of water metro. Along with connectivity, today many other projects related to the development of Kerala have been inaugurated and the foundation stone laid. Many many congratulations to the people of Kerala for all this."
PM Modi also inaugurated various projects worth more than ₹3,200 crore including the country's first Water Metro in Kochi which would cover 10 islands, in and around the city.
PM Modi on his two-day visit to Kerala will dedicate rail electrification of the Dindigul-Palani-Palakkad section. He will also lay the foundation of numerous rail projects including the redevelopment of Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, and Varkala Sivagiri railway stations; comprehensive development of Thiruvananthapuram area including Nemon and Kochuveli and increasing of sectional speed of Thiruvananthapuram-Shoranur section.
